CNN Center Built Environment Description

The CNN Center was originally built in 1976 and was called the Omni Center. It is located in downtown Atlanta next to Centennial Olympic Park, the Georgia Dome, and it connected to Phillips Arena as well as the Omni Hotel. The company CNN moved into the Omni center in 1987 after many failed projects, thus renaming it the CNN Center. The center consists of a large open auditorium about 13 stories in height, that is illuminated by natural light and a plethora of tv’s ranging in size displaying CNN news. It contains many fast food restaurants ranging from Asian and Spanish cuisine through American to Mediterranean dishes. They are all positioned around the auditorium, looking towards the common areas where the masses of people eat and socialize. The vast amounts of food bring about an enticing smell of a delicious meal. No matter what time of day, the center will be bustling with all different types of people. There always are business men and women grabbing a bite to eat accompanied by tourist coming to take a tour of the massive complex. Also, depending on what day, a Hawks basketball game or Falcons football game always attracts numerous sports fans that enjoy everything the center has to offer. Besides the restaurants, there are many objects and artifacts laid out around the edge of the open auditorium, like the Humvee near the entrance of the auditorium. It is this huge, tan, rusty clunk of metal that could drive through a wall, literally. There are also many flags hanging all around the auditorium, bursting with every color imaginable. These artifacts help tell a story of how global CNN is and their impact all across the world. When I was in there, I felt like a part of something bigger, almost like a community. Everyone that was in there can trace their origins back to one of the flags hanging up above, but we all belong to a globalized world. It brought out a sense of security and belonging. Although it has about one million things happening at once, its a place that all of those things, people, and ideas come together.

Omni Hotel

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This is the Omni Hotel that is attached to the CNN Center. It has many rooms that look out into the auditorium of the CNN Center. Aesthetically speaking, it isn’t very appealing. The only cool thing is it lights up in the evenings. It hosts many conferences throughout the year. There are 12 floors visible from the CNN Center auditorium, but there are many more in the actual hotel building that is adjacent to the CNN Center.

CNN Humvee

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This is a Humvee that CNN reporters Walter Rodgers and Martin Savidge used to report the Iraq War back in 2003. It is pretty large for a car, its tan, looks very durable and gas-guzzling. It has all of the equipment baggage on top of the roof that would’ve been there when it was actually in use. They have since added tv’s that always play CNN news.